[quote=AN]
Why is it bizarre? It’s from two different points and they’re not related/responded to each other. [/quote]

It represents the lack of perspective. Just like people show the lack of perspective when they show concern over federal debt and demand spending cuts now lest we become Italy/Greece. When the real danger is for us to become Japan. But I digress.

Most Americans won’t retire in a condo in Del Mar or in a 4000 sq ft house, or go dumpster diving. The question as originally posed was “how much is okay for retirement?”. The answer to that question is zero. There is a senior apartment complex not far from where I live. I’m fairly sure that, if I were 65 right now, I’d be able to afford to live there on my SS benefits with no savings whatsoever. And I wouldn’t even have to move to a lower cost-of-living state. I don’t think that SS or Medicare will get rolled back substantially by 2040, because the majority of Americans don’t have enough savings to last more than a year or two without SS and Medicare. And seniors vote. They will saddle their grandchildren with whatever taxes necessary to ensure retirement that does not involve dumpster-diving or eating cat food.

Then at some point “how much is okay for retirement” somehow got twisted into “how much is okay for retirement in Del Mar”, which is the spectral opposite of the original question.

And the bizarre part, I guess, is that people continue the discussion without blinking an eye.